In the gospel of John (Chapter 8:31-36), Jesus speaks of the freedom that comes from continuing in his word. As we approach the Fourth of July this year, with questions of freedom on our hearts due to recent news in our national political realm, I thought it would be timely to take a moment to explore more fully what freedom in Christ means. The words of Jesus, warning us of our slavery to sin, and our true place in the household of God alongside the Son (the one who makes us free) challenge us to be mindful of the power of sin in our lives, and how our freedom is a gift that we have never earned of our own accord.
In the same way, I think it’s important to remember that the freedom that we have been given in this nation is also a gift – and it’s a gift that isn’t to be taken for granted. As a person who checks most of the boxes of traditional power holders in our nation, I’m especially aware of the fact that I have certain privileges and freedoms others in our society don’t necessarily have. Because others, though living in the land of the free, don’t necessarily have the same freedoms as myself, I find there’s tension in living fully into the freedom that I have – because my freedom is not freedom found in a vacuum, but freedom that is dependent on the actions of others, just as the freedom of others may be dependent on how I act. So it is with the freedom of Christ.
German theologian Ernst Käsemann writes in his book, “Jesus Means Freedom,” the following: “Freedom can never be carried to excess … but it can be misunderstood and wrongly used.” The freedom we have from sin is not freedom so that we might simply sin more. As Paul writes in Romans 6: “Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it?” Freedom is as much a responsibility as it is a joy. Our freedom from sin allows us to live lives where we can fearlessly serve God and neighbor, knowing that God’s grace far exceeds any of our shortcomings.
And that’s one of the beautiful ironies about true freedom: As much as we are untethered from the eternal consequences of sin, we are always tethered to our neighbor. And if tied to our neighbor, then our actions in freedom still have an impact on them. In the same way, ideally, we are blessed to live into our freedoms in this nation so long as they don’t have a negative impact – known or unknown – on our neighbor. The challenge is, it’s not always easy to know if our desire for freedom is responsible for harming our neighbor.
Much like we are given the Law and the prophets in scripture to guide our earthly living, so that we might live lives that are beneficial to ourselves and to others, we are given laws in our nation as well. Most of them are straightforward and easy to understand why they’re laws, but then there are laws that we sometimes think “cramp our style” or limit our freedoms in ways that are inconvenient. Most traffic laws are designed for good order and for safety, but sometimes we really wish we didn’t have to worry about that school zone speed limit, don’t we? In the same way, knowing that we are freed in Christ from the power of sin, we know that the eternal consequences of ignoring commandments to love our neighbor don’t have hold over us, but they do have a real hold on our neighbor in this world.
So this Fourth of July – and every day – I invite you to live boldly into the freedom that we have been given, primarily by knowing that our freedom is truly a gift meant for all people. To live into it fully, we might have to be willing to be servants of one another along the way. As the saying goes, “freedom isn’t free.” But it is worth it, when all of us are able to live into that freedom together.
Pastor Chris